When it launches 775-pin boxed Pentium and Celeron processors next quarter, Intel will mark each one's box with a code to indicate its power draw.

Sources cited by Xbit Labs claim that the boxes in which the chips ship will be stamped with the code 'PCG 04A' or 'PCG 04B' to signify whether they have a power consumption rating of 84W or 115W, respectively.

In time, the sources add, the chip giant will print the code directly onto each processor's ceramic packaging.

'PCG' stands for 'Platform Compatibility Guide', and is intended to help chip buyers choose the right mobo for their selected CPU - in short, to make sure they get a board capable of dealing with the intense heat a 115W CPU dissipates.

Power consumption and its associated heat dissipation have proved something of a problem for Intel's 90nm generation of P4, aka 'Prescott'. So far, the company has not ramped Prescott's clock speed as fast as it might have done in the past, largely by offering more 90nm parts alongside existing 130nm parts of the same clock speed. Next month, however, it is expected to launch a 3.6GHz Prescott, which is likely to expand the power consumption envelope further. ®